Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas in India... and Thailand?? Yarr

  Finishing the last school week, packing up the house, visiting with my long lost cousin and trying to see my friends before I left all while welcoming home Stevo made my last week in Bellevue quite busy. Anywho, the house now rests in about 300 boxes and many storage units. Last weekend was quite nice. A surprise major rager allowed a final goodbye to most of the homies-- and some grand excitement. I spent most of the last day packing my bag, putting additive in the cars' gas tanks for 6 months of storage, and running errands for the last things I would need for the trip.
  Our flight left at 7 in the morning, so we stayed in a hotel that night and got there several hours early to give enough time to check our bags internationally and such. Steve and mineself slept the majority of our first flight- 90 minutes to Vancouver from SeaTac. I'd gotten a total of 6 hours of sleep in the two nights prior and our early morning departure didn't help. After a 5 hour layover in Vancouver, we embarked on our 13 hour trip to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific. To anyone traveling overseas, I would suggest anything but Cathay Pacific. Not to be negative, but all I wanted was some sleep and to watch a few good movies. The seats on our 747 didn't recline, the bottom merely slid out, slouching your back thats already being punctured by the incredibly uncomfortable seat padding. On top of this, we were given minimal leg room and an unpleasant temperature. Sweat. Don't fly Cathay Pacific, and don't wear formal shorts- loose sweatpant shorts of some sort would be ideal. My 2 greatest bits of advice for a flight that takes you through time. Our 5 hour layover in Hong Kong was the strangest. Amidst changing timezones and flying the whole day, our conception of time was entirely thrown off. The 6 hour Dragonair flight from Hong Kong to Bangalore was much more pleasant, but that's not saying much. I really can't express how dreadful the trip was. The best part was definitely the fact that I flew an airline named after the evolved form of Dratini.
  Reuniting with the Fatherlord and brother made much of it worth while. 6 months is a long time to be away from such close family members. Our driver, took us back to our apartment at 4 in the morning. After unpacking and getting slightly settled in, I was finally able to lay down in a bed and sleep. Though only for  3 hours, it still helped.
  I walked around the few streets nearest our apartment, ate a few coconuts for about 25 cents, and rapidly understood why rickshaw drivers are so annoying. The streets don't have lanes. This being the case, to alert the car in front of you that you are nearby, you honk. With all the cars, or should I say rickshaws and motorbikes, on the road, that's a lot of honking. Our apartment windows are single-paned and block almost no sound, so the honking continues all through the night too. Garbage is everywhere, the sidewalk is the trash can. And the home to sleeping dogs and men. So far India is pretty amazing. I've said a lot of negative things so far, and apologize because I've probably given the wrong impression. The people have so far done nothing but smile, wave, and welcome us foreigners to their world.
  I leave for Thailand tomorrow night, so the ending of our Christmas will be spent in Phuket. I loath the idea of getting back on a plane, but it could be the greatest thing ever.
MERRY CHRISTMAS eh?
Yarr

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